France Beat Belgium To Reach The World Cup Final

France Beat Belgium To Reach The World Cup Final

France have progressed to the World Cup final, on Sunday, July 15, after beating Belgium in the semi-finals this evening.

After a thrilling first half – which drew breathtaking saves from both ‘keepers – the deadlock was finally broken by France thanks to a header from Samuel Umtiti in the 51st minute.

The win means France have reached their third World Cup final, winning it as the host nation in 1998 and losing to Italy on penalties in 2006.

The French football team are now on course for their second World Cup trophy – all that stands in the way of Les Blues is England or Croatia, who’ll play for a spot in tomorrow’s semi-final, (July 11).

While the first half lacked any goals, it was stacked with end-to-end attacking play from both sides.

It was only in the second half when the ’98 World Cup winners converted a goal from a corner thanks to a header from Samuel Umtiti.

From then on, Belgium went on the offensive, but Didier Deschamps’ men held firm against the attacking threat of Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku.

PA

The last time France reached the finals was in the 2006 World Cup in Germany, where they lost 5–3 on penalties against Gli Azzurri.

However the final will forever be remembered as the game where Zinedine Zidane got sent off for headbutting Marco Materazzi.

After their victory over Sweden, England will face Croatia in the semi-final on Wednesday, July 11, kick off 19:00 BST.

Croatia came out on top after a tense penalty shoot-out against host nation Russia in the quarters, but have played two full periods of extra time en route to the semis.

You can catch all the build-up and live coverage of England’s semi-final against Croatia on ITV from 6 PM.